The
history of the Dragon Coast is the history of money, particularly the
darker side of the coin. Situated on the main trade routes between the
Inner Sea and the Sword Coast, these lands never coalesced into a solid,
coherent nation, like Cormyr or Sembia. Instead small petty city-states
have risen and fallen, powered by greed and the most powerful merchant
or pirate faction of the day. As a result, the Dragon Coast has always
been the home of the smuggler, the pirate, the rogue, and the hired killer.

It has been the place where those seeking to skirt the laws of more civilized
nations to the north make landfall. It is here that the Red Wizards gain
their access to the Western Heartlands, and where the Cult of the Dragon
launches its plots to the south. And it is here that independent secret
societies and assassin guilds have their greatest power. The last semblance
of organized resistance to this trend was the reign of Verovan, last of
the kings of Westgate. The monarchy of Westgate had long worked closely
with the various mercantile and pirate factions, but Verovan attempted
to stem the growing power of the merchant houses and petty lords.

His sudden and mysterious death without acceptable heirs in 1248 DR opened
the door for much of what now is commonplace in the Dragon Coast - corruption
and treachery. It should be noted that while Verovan's name is still venerated
in these lands, better known is Immurk, the greatest of the Inner Sea
Pirates, a brash and flamboyant rogue who united a pirate fleet beneath
him and ruled from 1164 DR to his death in 1201 DR. Such it is in the
Dragon Coast, that good people are venerated, but the power of darker
rogues is imitated.

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